Mondays are Dark

As predicted, the theater season has started with a vengeance.  Eight shows opened across three counties last week, with more on the way.  This week’s big opening is Slow Burn’s long awaited production of the musical version of Stephen King’s Carrie.  Yes, its Broadway premiere was a flop of legendary proportions, but it enjoyed an extended off-Broadway revival in 2012.

 

Here’s your Monday reading list:

 

24 Hour Theatre Project

Florida Theater On Stage reports that Naked Stage’s annual 24 Hour Theatre Project is on track to play on October 27 at Palm Beach Dramaworks.  But this year, the beneficiary isn’t The Naked Stage.  This year’s proceeds will go to help  long-time theatre supporter Dana Castellan cover the costs of her fight against cancer.

 

A Spanish Language Theatre Festival

The Miami Herald fills us on on the fifth annual TEMfest, run by Teatro En Miami. It opened last week at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium.

 

Playing in Palm Beach

The Palm Beach Post fills us in on Our Town at Palm Beach Dramaworks, and Carrie the Musical from Slow Burn Theatre Company (as mentioned above).  And here’s Hap Erstein’s Season Preview.

 

Speaking of Slow Burn

Florida Theater On Stage fills us in on their move to The Broward Center for the Performing Arts next season.

The move brings a significant theater producer to a county that has suffered the loss of major companies in recent years, even as smaller troupes have cropped up.

Currently, the company stages plays in West Boca, Aventura, and Fort Lauderdale, making it the only theater company producing shows in all three counties that make up metropolitan South Florida.

 

Jupiter Foreigners

Broadway World reports on all the folks foreign to Florida opening in The Foreigner at The Maltz Jupiter Theatre next week. Well, their may be an Asolo Theater regular or two in the mix.

 

Professionals and Students

Florida Theater On Stage takes a look behind the scenes of Peter and the Starcatcher, which opened last week at the Arsht Center.

With University of Miami students working alongside seasoned professionals in almost every job, an apprenticeship has been forged that has had such a mutually synergistic benefit that sometimes the lines get blurred who are the mentors and who are the mentees.

 

The highly theatrical and adult-oriented origin story of Peter Pan is the fourth co-production of the Arsht’s Theater Up Close series and UM’s Department of Theatre Arts.

  

Reviving Annie

Christine Dolen is out of town, but she did manage to get in a story in The Miami Herald about the current national tour of Annie, playing at the Broward Center through this Saturday.

“This is my 19th time directing it,” Charnin says. “Over the course of the years, it morphs into different kinds of events. Sometimes, I discover it’s drifted so far away from its original intentions, I have to bring it back. ... This is more like the original.”

Life is a Cabaret Du Jour

The Sun-Sentinel fills us in on Cabaret Du Jour playing a limited run at Empire Stage through October 15.

 

Art is Life

Scroll down this Miami Herald article to find out where you can see Deborah Sherman perform her solo show, Frida: Unmasked this Friday.  And then you can read on to learn about Thinking Cap Theatre’s new reading series.

 

Speaking of Thinking Cap

The Sun-Sentinel spoke with Thinking Cap Theatre’s artistic director Nicole Stodard about their upcoming programming.

“At our production meeting, I said, ‘Put on your party hats and not just your thinking caps,’ “ says Nicole Stodard, the company’s founding artistic director. “We definitely haven’t done anything seasonal to date. It’s all been mission-driven work. I think it’s a good way to provide more fare for audiences and to get more people involved in the community and get people working.” 

Older Romance

Broadway World fills us in on Broward Stage Door’s production of The Last Romance, which opened this past Friday.

"The Last Romance is a warm, funny and insightful play about love after 65," says Whitelaw. "I hope our audiences will leave the theatre with a smile on their faces and a tear in their eyes. I know that after I read it, I did. Joe DiPietro is a talented young writer, who knows his characters and their territory."

Arthur Whitelaw directs this production.  His productions have racked awards including the Tony, Oscar, Emmy, Olivier, Evening Standard, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and more.  Guess he wants to add “Carbonell” to the list.

 

Meanwhile…

The Palm Beach Daily News reports that there are no plans to demolish the long-dormant Royal Poinciana Playhouse, probably.  But we haven’t heard much lately about plans to re-open it, either.